When a Disruption Like Brussels Happens, What to do About Tickets Booked with Credit Card Points Like Citi and US Bank?

I arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone Tuesday morning expecting to pick up the evening Brussels Airline flight to Monrovia, Liberia. For tragic reasons to many, it was not to be. My thoughts and sympathies with those directly impacted.

Those of us traveling face a practical challenge, and I have been learning the ins and outs of tickets booked with credit card points such as Citi ThankYou and US Bank FlexPerks.

DIY-ers should understand that these are travel agency tickets. That means in most cases, if you contact the airline, you will be redirected to your travel agent. Certain airlines need to be contacted directly, and some can be, though generally you need to call up Citi, etc.

Lesson 1: Have your reservations in order before something happens:

Have you credit card info, trip info and contact numbers all accessible

Have the airline record locater (PNR) – Citi ThankYou used to populate it after booking, lately I have had to call to get it

Use the airline record locater to update all your contact information and frequent flyer program information, and do seat selection on the airline’s website – the information the agency sends over is always incomplete and at booking you can only enter the frequent flyer number of the operating airline

Lesson 2: I have never been contacted by Citi or US Bank about any flight delay or cancellation.

Lesson 4: Prepare for a long phone call, with no email or chat support.

Generally you need to get through 3 people to have anything done. First the credit card person verifies your identity and wastes time with scripted stuff like “Congratulations, you have X points…” Then you get to a rewards person who again verifies your identity. Then you are transferred to a rebooking agent. I have not found any direct numbers or a way to short-circuit it. Trying to interrupt the scripts takes more time as the agents are insistent.

Once you get to the rebooking person, give them your phone number and implore them to call you back if disconnected, which happens a lot on weak wi-fi. You don’t want to spend another 15 minutes in the phone process.

Lesson 5: many of the agents are good.

I even had one resolve a hurricane-induced multi-day delay with notorious LIAT when I could not even get LIAT to answer any public numbers.

Hopefully this helps your travels when disruptions occur.

How I resolved my Brussels Airlines ticket:

I got off the ferry from airport to Freetown, Sierra Leone and booked it to the nearby Radisson Blu. Many of their hotels are Boingo hotspots which I have through my Amex Platinum. Failing that, as a Club Carlson Gold member, or out of pity, I figured they would give me internet access.

I pulled up alternatives, to my luck out of the handful of daily flights at Freetown, there was an alternate Kenya Airways flight leaving in 3 hours that I could just make (1.5 hours back to the airport by next ferry, while the circuitous drive is 2+ hours).

Fortunately I had booked within 24 hours so Citi was able to void my Brussels Airline ticket without having to cost time dealing with them, which were no doubt swamped and probably not re-accommodating passengers on Kenyan anyway.

The agent got me on Kenyan and I was off to the ferry with 25 minutes to spare for a neighborhood walk.

I’m fairly certain airlines can also take over agency tickets. I know I’ve had UA do it a few years back. Agent mentioned something about usually charging to take it over but offered to waive it given the nature of the issues. Point is, I suspect it’s a policy decision and not a technical one, so trying to go through the airline for help may not be fruitless, depending on the challenges of contacting the bank’s contracted agency.

@Andrew C – with these kind of tickets I have had Delta help, even the Diamond agents wanted me to do with agency though found a away. By policy and they say it on the phone messes the US budget airlines and Southwest you go direct to the airline. Others I have struck out, what makes sense you says may be policy since. In this specific case Citi agent even asked if Brussels had contacted me because they say nothing official per flight/reservation of what was happening since Brussels was just saying their website everything down but not yet doing… Read more »

About Stefan

Stefan Krasowski has traveled to 189 countries and is an expert on international travel, frequent flyer programs, and travel credit cards. More About Stefan»

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